Dum, De Dum Dum - "Dragnet", The Series Quiz

Answer: Jack Webb

Actor John Randolph "Jack" Webb played a feature role as a crime lab technician in the 1948 film, "He Walked by Night" The story was based on the real life murder of a highway patrol officer. The film was made in semi-documentary style, and detailed the step by step procedures of a police investigation. It was this film that gave Webb the idea for "Dragnet".

Answer: the job description title

The badge read (on the top) the rank, "SERGEANT", midway on the badge was printed the department name, "LOS ANGELES POLICE", and the badge number, "714" was on the bottom portion of the badge.
A stickler for authenticity, Jack Webb insisted the Friday and his partner use badges in the then-unique shield shape used by the LAPD. This led to the loan of actual LAPD badges, brought to the filming set each morning from the Office of the Chief of Police, in the care of the police officer who acted as a technical adviser.

Answer: Barton Yarborough

When the series first aired in January of 1952, the original partner of Joe Friday was Sgt. Ben Romero, played by Yarborough. The actor died after only three episodes were filmed. The Romero character was replaced by Officer Frank Smith, played by Ben Alexander. Alexander continued in the role through the original run, which ended in 1959. Dennis Weaver appeared on the show as a police detective. Harry Morgan, probably best remembered as Col.

Sherman Potter on the hit series "M*A*S*H", played Officer Bill Gannon, and partnered with Joe Friday when the series returned for the 1967 run.

Answer: 363

The series starring Jack Webb, aired a total of 263 episodes during the first run from 1952-1959, and 100 episodes when it returned to the air from 1967-1970. Each episode started with a narration (in the style of a written police report) by Jack Webb, in the character of Joe Friday, who set the premise for that particular episode.

This added to the flavor of authenticity and realism sought by Webb. A typical opening narration would start, "This is the city, Los Angeles, California. "I work here, I'm a cop". "Tuesday, January 8th.

It was raining in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of Robbery-Homicide Division. The boss was Captain Mack. My partner was Frank Smith. My name is Friday. A group of bank robbers had robbed three banks in past three Tuesdays. Our job was to catch them before they extended their record to four robberies in four weeks".

The beginning of the narration was later changed from, "I'm a cop" to "I carry a badge" because of complaints from police departments about officers being referred to as "cops".

Answer: False

As "Dragnet" neared the completion of the first run in the 1959 season, Sgt. Joe Friday was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Seven years later when the series returned to the air, the promotion was never mentioned, and he was once again a sergeant.

The series continued as if the promotion never occurred. Jack Webb said at the time, "Few people remembered that Joe Friday was promoted toward the end of our first run. We thought it's better to have Joe as a sergeant again. Few detective lieutenants get out into the field".

Answer: False

At the beginning of each show, the announcer would state, "The story you are about to see is true". "The names have been changed to protect the innocent." The stories were true, but the only the names of the victims, and some of the suspects were changed. During the filming of an early episodes, series star Jack Webb was uncomfortable with the handling of firearms.

He mentioned this to the police technical adviser assigned the series. When an early script called for Joe Friday to use a shotgun, the LAPD assigned Officer Jesse Littlejohn, a member of the departments elite Robbery-Homicide Bureau, to teach Webb how to handle the shotgun. To show his appreciation for this and the assistance provided by other police officers, Webb dropped their names into the script.

This began a tradition that continued throughout the run of the series. All officer names were real with the exception for of recurring characters or officers suspected of wrongdoing.

Answer: the LAPD racial segregation policies

The LAPD did not racially desegregate the ranks of police personnel until the early 1960's. In 1950, then LAPD Chief of Police William H. Parker offered Jack Webb the department's official endorsement for the production of "Dragnet", that had been sought. Police wanted control over the program's sponsor, and insisted that police not be depicted in an unflattering image.

The show did air episodes involving the bombing of the Los Angeles City Hall, the personal off-duty lives of the police characters, and in one episode, the accidental shooting of a child just before Christmas, by his friend who was to received a rifle from his parents as a Christmas gift.

In that story, the child found the wrapped gift hidden in the closet, opened it, and was showing it to his best friend when it went off.

The moral of that episode was that guns were not suitable gifts to children.

Answer: False

Webb was never a police officer. In preparation for his role as a police sergeant, he frequently visited police headquarter, accompanied patrol officers and detectives as they performed their duties, and even attended some training classes at the police academy to learn the authentic jargon and other details that could be featured on the program. Upon his death 1982, in recognition for his efforts in improving the image of the police department, Webb was given a funeral with full police honors (including the Chief of Police announcing that badge 714 that Webb used in "Dragnet" would be retired) although he never actually served on the force. Following Webb's death, Los Angeles city offices paid tribute by lowering their flags to half staff.

Answer: True

Following a family tradition, Roddenberry joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1949. Roddenberry's father was a recent retiree from the LAPD, and his younger brother was an officer with the police department. At one point in his police career, Gene Roddenberry was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Police as a researcher. LAPD Chief William H. Parker was on a quest to improve the image of the once-corrupt police department. One strategy employed by Parker was to speak at civic group meetings whenever possible. One of duties assigned to Roddenberry was to write speeches for the chief.

The new television series "Dragnet" provided the police department with a vehicle to improve the image and publics perception of police department. Jack Webb was always searching for interesting stories that he could use in episodes of the series. Webb would pay $100.00 to officers who would provide him with story ideas that he could use. Roddenberry, who was an accomplished writer with limited police street experience, would take the stories of more experienced police officers and detectives, wrote them into one page outlines, and sold them to Webb. Roddenberry and his source would then split the fee.

At $50.00 per outline, Roddenberry found a great way to augment his 400 dollar a month salary as a police officer while honing his writing skills.

Answer: Walter Schumann

The song is known as "The Dragnet March" or "Danger Ahead".
The song won an Emmy Award in 1955 for Best Original Music Composed for Television. Composer Walter Schumann also scored music for a number of movies, including, "Abbot and Costello In the Foreign Legion" in 1950 and "Ma and Pa Kettle Go To Town" in 1950.